Kelowna Heroes support Child Advocacy Centre

The 100 Men Who Give a Damn are no more as the group recreated itself with the inaugural event of the 100 Heroes Who Give a Damn held Nov. 6.

The newly reconstructed group reached out and invited men and women to come and be a hero for an evening for a local charity and Kelowna responded, according to a 100 Heroes news release.

More than 200 people packed the room during the first event which was graciously hosted by the Kelowna Yacht Club, and it appeared that at least half of those in the room were women.

Over the past three years, the former group has raised over $210,000 for local charities and non-profit organizations. Every cent of the money raised goes directly to local charities and is used to fund worthwhile causes in the community, the release said.

But the group felt that the home was right for something new and something much bigger than before. Part of that change and rebranding was the decision to open the doors to women as well.

Event format remained the same with three local charity or non-profit groups randomly selected to attend and do a five-minute “pitch” on what they would use the money for if chosen. After the three pitches, all Heroes present voted on the cause they wanted to support, and the Child Advocacy Centre initiative being spearheaded by the Kelowna foundation was selected to take home the money, the release said.

The Child Advocacy Centre of Kelowna will be built as a multi-disciplinary response centre to child abuse in our community. There are similar centres in many other cities in North American but nothing of its type here in the Okanagan, the release said.

“We are incredibly grateful to the 100 Heroes Who Give a Damn, their donations and the awareness this event generates is truly invaluable to a project like this,” said executive director of the Kelowna Foundation, Ginny Becker.

“We are excited for the next 100 Heroes event in February which we will look to build off the success of last night and we are anticipating even more heroes present to make another huge impact for our amazing community,” said group co-founder Chris Wills.

Each event is planned by a dedicated group of 10 to 12 volunteers dubbed the “non-organizing committee” and

anything needed to run the event is raised by donation.

Committee member Holly Routley said, “The ones who are crazy enough to think they can change the world are the ones that do, and we had a room full of men and women (last night) who believed just that.”